TSA officers at Alabama airport find stolen Civil War-era cannonballs in checked bag

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GULF SHORES, Ala. — Transportation Security Administration officers screening a checked bag at Gulf Shores International Airport in Alabama uncovered five small cannonballs stolen from a nearby historic fort. The discovery happened July 18, when Lead TSA Officer Justin Dupree spotted a large, opaque item on his X-ray screen.

He initially thought it might be a medicine ball, according to a TSA "Employee Story" shared online. But when he opened the bag, he found the cannonballs wrapped in paper towels — and immediately worried he might be dealing with something far more dangerous.

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"My first thought was, 'I couldn't see a fuse and need to get some help quick,'" Dupree said. "I couldn't see the entire item but was scared I might have been holding a live explosive." The cannonballs varied in size, with the largest roughly the size of a grapefruit and weighing about as much as a small shotput, Dupree said.

In his four years as a TSA officer, he said he had screened inert grenades and training munitions before, but "never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation,” he said.

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A supervisor responded after Dupree flagged the possible explosive, reviewed the X-ray image and agreed the item posed a potential danger, then instructed Dupree to secure the bag while he alerted TSA's regional explosives specialist and assistant federal security director for law enforcement. Local police were called in to determine whether a bomb squad was needed, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office responded to the airport.

"I had never seen anything like this," Supervisory TSA Officer Richard Cash said. The cannonballs turned out to be inert, with no explosive material or active components. But they still couldn't fly. TSA classified them as prohibited artillery munitions, and officers could not immediately confirm they were inert.

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A subsequent police investigation traced the cannonballs to Fort Morgan, a historic Alabama fort that played a role in several military conflicts, including the Civil War.

Investigators determined the passenger carrying them was unaware the cannonballs had been stolen from the site. The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office ultimately returned the cannonballs to Fort Morgan.

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